Names and faces
Kevin Costner testified Friday that he never saw actor Stephen Baldwin contribute anything to their company’s efforts to sell oil cleanup devices to BP in the aftermath of the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Baldwin and friend Spyridon Contogouris sued Costner and business partner Pat - rick Smith, contending they were duped into selling their shares of Ocean Therapy Solutions — the company that marketed the machines to BP — and were cheated out of millions of dollars. Costner said he wondered what Baldwin was doing for their company before BP agreed to make an $18 million deposit on a $52 million order for 32 oil-separating centrifuges. “I never saw him do anything,” Costner said. Costner said the company’s chief executive, John Houghtaling, begged Baldwin and Contogouris not to sell their shares shortly before BP committed to buying the devices. Only Smith and Houghtaling were putting up money to keep their company afloat in the days before BP ordered the machines, according to Costner. Costner and Baldwin have largely ignored each other in the New Orleans courtroom during the trial, which started Monday and is expected to last another week. Baldwin is expected to testify later in the trial. Costner’s attorney, Wayne Lee, has said his client played no role in the decision by Baldwin and Contogouris to sell their shares in Ocean Therapy Solutions for $1.4 million and $500,000, respectively.
Shirley Maclaine earned the American Film Institute’s lifea c h i evementaward Thursday night with friends and colleagues p ra i s i n g her accomplishments in this life — and cracking jokes about the Terms of Endearment star’s belief in reincarnation and having previously lived many past lives. Co-stars Julia Roberts, Jack Nicholson, Jack Black, Sally Field, Meryl Streep and others contributed to the loving roast of Maclaine. “Tonight we’re here to honor a person I have known, a person I have loved my whole life,” said Maclaine’s younger brother, Warren Beatty, the 2008 recipient of the film institute’s honor.